The Second Keyblade Master, Part 2
by emina-chan
Summary: a sequel to the first one. another work in progress. hope you enjoy it.


**The Second Keyblade Master, Part 2**

By: Nikki-san

**Chapter 1: New and Old**

Somewhere far away, in a land of darkness, Kairi sat at a small table. She scowled as she stared at a hologram on the middle of the table. Her hooded companion stood behind her. The hologram showed Nicoru, and Sora. They looked closely at Sora and Nicoru. "They took down the giant heartless…" murmured Kairi. "Such is the power of the keyblades," replied the hooded man.

"Turn them into heartless, that will settle things quickly enough, and then I can have their keyblades!" exclaimed Kairi eagerly. Then their attention was turned to Donald and Goofy. "Are those are the king's lackeys, the ones that you warned me about Maleficent?" Kairi asked with a smirk. A woman suddenly appeared "that is correct my dear," she replied. "I want the keyblades!" yelled Kairi.

Maleficent merely rolled her eyes at the whiny young redhead. "The blades have chosen them," she began, "will they conquer the darkness or will it devour them?" She carried a staff and was dressed in black. A skin-tight hood covered her head, showing something looking a lot like horns sticking up out of her head. A raven sat on top of her staff.

"Where is Riku?" Kairi demanded. "I want to see him," she said with a pout. Maleficent smiled evilly "don't worry you shall see your prince soon…and he'll be all yours to control." Kairi smiled to herself, looking at her hands lying in her lap_. I win Nicoru, Riku will be all mine, and there is nothing you can do about it, even with that stupid keyblade of yours…_

Somewhere in a place called Hollow Bastion…

Riku sat on a large piece of stone. He stared at the ground wondering what had happened to him after he had lost consciousness. He lifted his head and looked around "Where am I?" he asked, but there was nobody there to answer him. Surrounding him were many identical stones compared to the one he sat on. They were surrounded by a large waterfall that made up the walls of a canyon shaped like a giant hole. Around the canyon was a great body of water and not too far away lay a large castle.

_What happened? Where is the island? Sora, Kairi…Nicoru, where are they? What is this place?_ He pondered for a minute before he finally decided. "I guess I have to go find everyone," he said getting to his feet. _When I find Nicoru, I can tell what really happened between Kairi and me…and how I really feel about …_

Back in Traverse Town, getting ready to depart…

Nicoru and Sora walked together, following Donald and Goofy as they led them to their ship. Nicoru turned and looked at Sora. "Are you sure we could trust these guys?" she asked. "They seem fine to me. They even said they'd help us find Riku and Kairi!" he replied with a smile. _I'm not so sure about this…I mean Sora trusts them, so maybe I should to I guess. If they could help find Riku then…_However, her thoughts on the subject were cut off when they heard Donald squawk, "We're here!"

They were standing in front of a large ship that stood right outside the gates of Traverse Town. Sora just stood there, his mouth gaping wide like a fish out of water. Nicoru dragged him to the entrance of the ship. "It's probably even better inside," she murmured. How right she was. "Welcome to our gummi ship!" exclaimed Donald. "Wow!" said Sora and Nicoru, both of them having a look of awe on their faces.

Sora began going around touching everything in sight. "Wow, look at this!" and "check this out cool!" he said excitedly. Nicoru just stared at him and said, "I really don't think that's a good idea Sora…" All of a sudden, a squeaky, high-pitched voice cried out angrily "that's enough!" A small brown blur popped out of nowhere hitting Sora in the face. "Will you stop touching everything you see?" the voice asked. Sora was in such a daze that all he could say was "huh?" The voice replied "down here!" Sora and Nicoru looked down to see chipmunks on the floor, a red nosed one wiping the smudges Sora had left on the floor, and another with a black nose and holding a mop, both sported aprons. "Wow what a punch…" Nicoru said in amazement as she picked them up off the ground."

"We're trying to keep this place clean!" said the one carrying the mop, then he continued by saying, "Don't make a mess okay?" "Kawaii!" Nicoru exclaimed, scooping them up in her hands. "Who are they?" she asked. "Those are Chip and Dale," Donald began, but was interrupted when Chip corrected him, "Hey! Don't call us those!" "They're the mechanics of the gummi ship," Donald continued. "Nice to meet you!" said Dale to Sora and Nicoru and then to Sora they said, "Take your shoes off when you enter the cockpit!" Sora replied "okay!" as he went to go place his shoes by Nicoru's.

Just then, another voice spoke up. Sora and Nicoru turned to see a little green bug with a cape and supposedly, a captain's hat with a large feather stuck to it, "Welcome! I'm Jiminy Cricket, Captain of this ship!" he said with a wave. Sora just stared while Nicoru softly murmured, "it's a bug…" She wondered to herself, _what the heck did I get myself into?_ Donald turned around in his seat and said "Everybody ready? Fasten your seatbelts."

Nicoru sat down in a seat and was about to look out the window when she heard a loud thump. She turned to see Sora up against the wall in the back of the room, lost in a daze from the impact of hitting the wall. "Sora…" she said holding out a hand to him. With her help, Sora finally managed to sit in the seat facing her.

Just then, something caught Nicoru's eye. "Sora…look…," she said softly as she pointed out the window. He stared in the direction her finger was pointing in. "Amazing…" he said as they stared at millions of stars. They sat together, watching in wonder as the world of Traverse Town grew smaller and smaller.

_If only Riku could see this, this is exactly the kind of thing he would have wanted to do when he got off the island…when we got off the island I mean. He would have really loved to have seen this too. I sure hope he's ok…_were Nicoru's thoughts as she sat there, her eyes swelling up with tears...

**Chapter 2: Wonderland**

The ship finally landed, lightly hitting the ground with a slight thud as it touched the ground. Sora was knocked out of his seat from the impact and fell to the floor. Nicoru just shook her head as she said, "Told you to wear the seatbelt..." He only scowled as he stood up, rubbing his tender butt. "Yeah, yeah…ow that hurt!" he groaned.

Nicoru and Sora followed Donald and Goofy outside of the ship. The brightness of the light outside blinded them for a split second until their eyes focused and they saw something so incredible for the first time ever. They were on a new world, one of which had a casino and a theme park rolled in to one.

Walls and walls of tall dark green hedges surrounded them. Rides could be seen all around them, a large building off in the distance with a bright neon sign spelled out the words CASINO, closer toward them stood a large castle. It was bright and was painted red and pink. It had heart windows, heart drawbridge…basically heart everything. Nicoru stared at the castle in disgust "that is the most hideous castle that I've ever seen!" Sora looked at her and grinned, "I don't know, I think it looks kind of nice…" then he received a angry glare from Nicoru "…yeah it is pretty ugly."

"Do not speak that way of the queen's castle!" a voice behind them said. They turned to see a soldier or to be more exact, a card soldier standing next to a posted sign. A fat white rabbit with pink eyes ran up behind them. He wore glass spectacles and a coat, shirt, and a bow, a golden pocket watch dangled from a gold chain on his coat. "Can't you tell they're new comers?" he asked the soldier sternly. "My mistake…" muttered the card. The rabbit introduced himself and asked them to follow him to the castle where a trial was about to be held. Nicoru and Sora just looked at each other and shrugged.

The white rabbit led them into a courtyard in the heart of the castle. Shrubs and walls of tall hedges stood everywhere. Card soldiers were all over and were guarding to podiums. One was taller and a stout, cranky looking woman sat in it. She had black hair tied up in a bun, wore a crown, and carried a scepter with a heart on it. In the smaller one sat a young blonde girl in a blue and white dress, with a blue bow and tiny black shoes.

"You are charged of wreaking havoc upon my lands, and stealing the hearts of the people as well as attempting the theft of mine!" she said. "The punishment for this, as you should well know Alice is death!" The girl looked at her, her expression a mix of anger and fear, "I've done no such thing! You don't even have any proof to me doing such a horrible crime!" The queen's face turned red, resembling somewhat the form of a tomato, "you are guilty because I say so!"

Alice was about to open her mouth to speak when a creature appeared from behind a bush. "A heartless!" Sora yelled rushing toward it. It rushed at the Queen, its hand outstretched, ready to rip the heart from her chest, when Sora jumped up and gave it a good smack. It disappeared in a small burst of black flames. "Obviously Alice isn't the culprit of these crimes…" he said with a huff. He looked to see Alice behind him but was shocked to see she was nowhere to be found.

"Nicoru, where is Alice?" Sora asked her. Nicoru was about to reply when there was a loud explosion. Screams rang out in the air. Past the castle and towards the amusement park, there was smoke billowing up in a huge cloud; a great swarm of flames covered the area. "Let's go Sora!" Nicoru, Donald and Goofy ran towards the entrance of the castle with Sora not too far behind. _I have a bad feeling about this…_ he thought.

Hiding from behind a large shrub, Kairi sat giggling to herself. "So the fun finally begins…"

The park was almost totally engulfed in flames. Buildings were crumbling to the ground; millions of people were running for their lives, the entire area covered with heartless. A loud rumbling noise shook the area. "Sora, look!" A huge heartless stood beside the Ferris wheel, swinging large flaming pitons. "That thing set this place on fire!" They looked at the giant heartless as it terrorized the park. Sora started running towards it but hesitated. The people still ran for their lives, one by one being brought down by a heartless. "Sora take care of the big one, I'll take care of the others!" Nicoru yelled as she ran off, smacking heartless. Sora stared at her and then looked at Goofy. Goofy nodded and ran after her.

Left and right, one by one, heartless kept rushing at her. _Damn…there's just no end to these things._ Nicoru continued fighting working her way down the street and helping people get safely out of the buildings. She had finally reached the end of the street when she heard a loud high-pitched scream coming from the building in front of her. She hesitated for a moment before she rushed inside. Flames sparked up all around her as timber from the walls and supports of the building came crashing down around her.

She heard the scream once again coming from the back of the building. She walked through the doorway of the room into a long hallway until she reached a single door at the far end. She rushed in, expecting to see someone cowering in fear in the corner of the room.

She was mistaken. In front of her stood Kairi, wearing a malicious grin on her face. "Have you finally come to rescue me?" she asked in an innocent tone. Nicoru stood there, feeling a surge of anger boiling inside of her. More than anything, she longed to beat Kairi's face in. "I though you were my friend…" she said. Kairi began laughing. Her laugh was loud and the echo of the sound bounced off the walls. "Me? Be friends with you? That's a good one! I only acted like I was your friend so I could get close to Riku. I don't really care about you or your friend Sora. I don't know why he or Riku for that matter, actually like you. I mean you are the biggest loser I've ever seen! You don't even act like a girl…" Nicoru went insane. "Shut the hell up you stupid bitch!" she fumed. "Why should I give a crap about what you think you?! You're just jealous of me!" Kairi looked at her, her smile fading away. "You're absolutely right, I am jealous of you. You just have to keep getting in the way of Riku and me…but once I get you out of the way he'll be all mine!"

She turned to the support beam beside her. With a sharp kick, the beam collapsed and the ceiling began to give way. A dark portal appeared behind Kairi and she stepped inside it "Goodbye…" she said with a laugh, and was gone, the portal disappearing behind her. Nicoru stood there for a moment, staring at the spot from which Kairi had just disappeared. Suddenly, a large piece of the ceiling fell and landed on top of Nicoru, trapping her underneath the wood. The billowing cloud of smoke above her had finally began to affect her. Choking from the lack of air, she struggled to free herself from the boards. She could feel herself getting weaker and weaker by the minute…

Sora was running around in circles like a chicken with its head cut off. He busily ran about trying to put out the fire on him butt. From out of nowhere, a magenta and purple striped cat appeared. It had big yellow eyes and a wide grin on its face. "It looks like you and your friends could really use this…hope it comes it handy…you'll need it for later…" he snapped his fingers and then suddenly disappeared. _What the heck did he mean by that?_ Sora wondered. He looked down at his keyblade, a cool blast of air rose from it, along with a few small snowflakes. "Ice?" he murmed softly, gazing at the blade in wonder. He aimed the blade at heartless, attempting to freeze the thing, but missed and hit Donald in the foot. "Sora, concentrate!" called out Donald. Sora closed his eyes and thought hard. Concentrate…

Nicoru lay underneath the timber, chocking and gasping for air. _What do I do? Someone please help me…I don't want to die_… Nicoru felt herself getting tired; she looked up at her keyblade, and saw ice emanating from the tip. _I could put out the fire…but I'm so tired…and I can barely even move…_she felt her body beginning to go numb; her eyelids became heavy as they began to close, when she felt the timber being pulled off her. A figure stood in front of her, her vision impaired to the point where she could barely see, causing her to just barely make out was a blur of silver, yellow, and blue.

She felt the keyblade being taken from her, the room suddenly grew cold, she shivered slightly from the frost on the floor. She sighed with relief as warm arms picked her up and moved out of the room. She tried opening her eyes in order to see the person carrying her. The only thing her eyes would allow her to see was a pair of aquamarine eyes and a mass of silver hair. "Riku?" was the only word Nicoru could manage to get out of her mouth before she lost consciousness.

Sora aimed at the heartless once more. "Freeze!" The blast hit the heartless, encasing it in ice. Its body began to crack and burst into tiny pieces. Sora ran off into the direction that Nicoru left in, not even waiting for Donald. _Let's just hope she isn't dead…_

Riku sat beside Nicoru outside of the remains of the building, looking anxiously at her face. _You had better not die on me…or…or I'll…_, his eyes widened as he watched tears slowly falling down Nicoru's face. "Riku…" she whispered softly. He pulled out a handkerchief and dried her eyes. "I've missed you too," he replied. He heard a noise off in the distance and saw a figure running in their direction. Riku stood up and gave her one last look, "take care…" he whispered before he ran off.

Sora searched frantically, trying to find his friend. "Sora!" came Goofy's voice. Sora started running in the direction of the sound of Goofy's voice, running as fast as his legs would carry him. The noise led him to the end of the street, where Nicoru's motionless body lay, guarded by Donald and Goofy. Sora felt his body stiffen up. He screamed out her name as he ran toward her "Nicoru! Nicoru!!!" Sora sat beside her motionless body, shaking her, praying that she would wake up. _Don't die, please don't die…we said we would find Riku and Kairi together…we agreed to do this together_… Sora felt tears flowing from his eyes.

Nicoru began to stir feeling the drops of Sora's tears falling on her face as he heard her whimper out her name. She gave a small laugh and said, "You are such a baby Sora…" Sora's eyes opened and grew wide as Nicoru smiled up at him and sat up. He moved so fast to give her a hug, sobbing like a baby, he hugged her tightly. "In a minute, you are going to snap my spine in two if you don't stop squeezing me Sora," she said, her voice strained.

Sora looked at her apologetically and asked, "So what happened?"

Nicoru fell silent for a minute. She really didn't want to tell him what had happened between her and Kairi, and Riku? She wasn't even sure if she had really seen him.

"Just the usual, ambushed by heartless again. No biggie," she replied.

Sora just smiled, full of relief he said, "Let's go."

They all began walking back to the ship, with Nicoru taking up the rear. She reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out the handkerchief. It was embroidered with yellow, black, and purple lines, with the name Riku stitched out in tiny letters in one of the corners_. This really is Riku's…which means…OH MY GOD, IT REALLY WAS HIM!!!_ Her eyes slanted as she at Sora and the others, she tucked the handkerchief safely away in her pocket. She looked around, hoping to see Riku again, but with no luck, she continued to follow Sora. _I will see him again…I won't let Kairi have him…_

They reached the outside of the ship and were about to step inside when a strange sight caught Nicoru's eye. In the hedge wall, there was a door with the strangest doorknob ever. It had a face, with the knob actually being a nose, and at the moment, it was sleeping. "Well that's something you don't see everyday…" murmured Nicoru and Sora. Sora, being the curious person that he was, had to reach out and turn it. "Ow, not so hard!" the door knob complained. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going back to sleep…" It opened its mouth revealing what looked like a keyhole.

At the sight of the keyhole, the blades began glowing. Sora and Nicoru lifted the keys up to the door and a golden beam of light shot out from the tips of the keyblades toward the keyhole. With a click, the keyhole was locked. The doorknob gave out another big yawn and fell back asleep.

"One down…" said Sora giving his friends the thumbs up.

But how many more left I wonder… Nicoru pondered as they climbed on board the ship.

**Chapter 3: The Confrontation**

Nicoru sat in her seat, gazing out the window, her hand in her pocket as she clutched Riku's handkerchief. She stared at the floor, trying to figure out what she should do. Even if she told Sora what had happened, he might now even believe her.

Sora, in a seat across from her on the other side of the aisle, looked anxiously at his friend. He pondered the idea if something had happened to her and decided to ask her about it.

"Nicoru, are you okay?"

Nicoru looked up at him with a startled expression and then smiled "I'm just fine, I just feel a little worn out is all."

Sora looked at her face and her fake smile, he could tell she was lying. "What's wrong? I know something happened."

Nicoru stared at the floor "nothing happened okay? Just drop it Sora. I'm really tired right now…"

Sora stood up. Extremely irritated he said, "Tell me what happened right now! I can see it in your eyes that something is wrong."

She sighed as she began to speak, "I saw Kairi while we were in Wonderland…"

Sora's eyes brightened up for a moment, and then he started to get angry "why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to tell you because she tried to kill me, she trapped me in a burning building! I was almost going to die! I didn't think you would want to hear that…"

Sora just gave her an angry look. Why the heck is she saying this? It's a load of crap because I just know Kairi wouldn't do something like that…He stared at her, his eyes burning, "you're lying…you're just jealous of her so you think that if you lie about her, it'll make you feel better about yourself…"

Nicoru exploded, tears streaming from her eyes "Are you crazy?! Why would I lie about something like this? THAT GIRL TRIED TO KILL ME!" She just kept going "if it weren't for Riku, I would've died! He carried me out of there while I was barely conscious! At least he seems to care about me…" she would have kept going on, but she had just noticed the look on Sora's face. She could tell he was really pissed off.

"YOU SAW RIKU TOO?!" he bellowed.

Calming down, she said "yes…at least I think I did…he picked me up and carried me outside. I had lost consciousness and by the time I woke up he was gone and all I left to tell if he was there or not was this," she said, pulling out the handkerchief.

Sora just looked at her. He turned away and sat back down. "Sora…" she said faintly, tears still falling down her face, her voice cracking as she spoke. He sat with his back turned to her; he turned his head around and said, "you are so full of crap." He turned away once more. Nicoru was left to do nothing but cry.

Donald and Goofy were in the cockpit, while Sora and Nicoru were in the passenger area of the ship, so they hadn't heard a word of the conversation that they had just had. Chip and Dale had heard it though. Before Sora knew what happened, he got double-smacked. "Ouch!" he cried rubbing his head. "It serves you right…" Nicoru said. Chip and Dale also had something to say, "You should be nice to your friend!" they said, getting up in his face.

He swatted them away with his hand, mumbling "Humph!" and not another word was spoken between the two of them for the rest of the trip.

Nicoru didn't know what to do. She felt empty. She had told Sora what happened, but it only made him angry and brought him to the conclusion that she was a liar. _I need you Riku…we both do…_

Sora fell asleep, only thinking about how Nicoru had lied to him, blaming her mistakes on Kairi, and claiming to have seen her and Riku.

_He stood in darkness. He looked around and spotted Riku, Kairi, and Nicoru. "Hey guys!" he cried yelling out to them. Riku, without a word, turned away and began walking off. "Riku! Wait!" Sora yelled. As much as he ran, he caught up neither to Riku or the girls. HE watched as Kairi started after Riku. "Kairi, don't go!" She turned "you should trust your friends while you still have them…" and continued, disappearing into darkness after Riku, leaving only Sora and Nicoru together. "Nicoru…" he started, but was cut short when Riku appeared out of nowhere and took Nicoru's hand and they started walking away "at least Riku understands me…" she said. They disappeared, leaving Sora totally helpless and alone. "Come back!" he cried._

He woke up, drenched in sweat, tears falling in huge drops down his face. He looked towards Nicoru's seat, but she was no longer there. He started panicking, _I don't want to be alone…don't leave me Nicoru, you're all I have left…_

He ran to the cockpit, desperately searching for her when he found her in one of the seats, being taught how to drive the ship. "Hey there Sora! You were sleeping so we invited Nicoru in here with us!" said Donald.

"We're here!" said Goofy

**Chapter 4: The Battle Arena**

Their feet touched dirt as they stepped out of the ship. They were standing in a large Coliseum, the large doors of the entrance behind them. Sora looked at the building in front of them with a banner that read "Battle Tournament Sign-ups here!" Sora got excited. _This place looks so cool! I wonder what Nicoru thinks about this place…_ he stopped and looked at her and realized that right now he wasn't talking to her. Instead, he just said, "let's check this out!" and ran off leaving the other three in the dust behind him.

He pushed open the doors to the building; his eyes grew wide as he took everything in, the style of the room and the people inside. Many well-built men stood inside waiting in a line that led to a desk where a man stood, with dark chocolate-brown hair and golden eyes and wearing blue jeans and a black tank top, black armbands on the wrists of his well-formed arms glistened under the lights of the room. He stood there, writing down their names on a clipboard as they walked up. By the time he had finished, Nicoru, Donald, and Goofy finally caught up and were standing behind him.

"Let's sign up too!" he said.

"That's not why we're here!" argued Donald.

After a long argument, that Sora won, they stood waiting in line, Sora first, wearing a large grin on his face. Nicoru was in back_, I don't really care what we do, I only agreed with Sora so he would calm down, so he wouldn't be so upset anymore…_

They had finally reached the desk. Sora gave him his name, then Donald and Goofy. When it was Nicoru's turn, the man raised an eyebrow at her. "Sorry, girls aren't allowed to enter." He said with a smirk. "WHAT?! But that's not fair!" Nicoru protested. "I don't make the rules, I just follow them," he said coolly. "Girls should be able to fight too!" she said furiously. "That's right! Why shouldn't we get to fight too? Because we'd kick your asses?" asked a female voice from behind her.

She turned around and saw an older girl, wearing a white tank top, a long black skirt with tight pants, and black boots and gloves. Her long raven-colored hair flowed out behind her. She looked at the man behind the desk with stern eyes. The man replied "Tifa I've already explained to you…" but Tifa cut him short, "that's a bunch of bullshit and you know it Tatsumi!" Tatsumi was about to speak when Nicoru butted in "you should at least give us a chance to prove ourselves! If you saw us fight...then you would see how good we really are!"

Cheers from the girls behind her echoed throughout the room. Tatsumi just shook his head and then raised his arms up signaling the girls to be quiet. "All right then, we'll have a tournament between the guys and girls, if the girls win they are forever allowed to compete here." Cheers rang out and bounced off the walls, as the girls grew excited. "…if the guys win though, you have to leave," he said with a small smile as he crossed his arms, the guys surrounding him started yelling and cheering.

"No problem," said Tifa. The other girls were standing behind her, ready to fight; all of them nodded their heads. "I hate my job…" Tatsumi muttered with a scowl as he went to prepare the arena for the tournament. "I know the boss is gonna hate this…"

Meanwhile, the groups were assembling into teams. With Sora and Nicoru's group trying to figure out which team to side with.

Sora still wasn't as forgiving as Nicoru would have hoped.

"I don't care who the hell you side with! Go be with the girls for all I care! I really don't want to be around you anyway! He said furiously.

Nicoru couldn't take it anymore; she was really pissed by now. "Who said I wanted to be with you guys anyway? It was your idea in the first place!" She stormed out the door and sat on the steps. Her face fell as she realized _he'll never forgive me now…_

She sat on the entrance steps, her eyes began to water, she fished Riku's handkerchief from out of her pocket and dried her eyes. She looked at the handkerchief and sighed. _What do I do now Riku?_

A low voice came from behind her, "shouldn't you be with your friends?" Her head whirled around and she saw one of the most hottest guys that she had ever seen before. He had spiky blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. He wore a black shirt, revealing his firm-muscled arms, with black pant and brown boots, a red cape flowed out behind him, and a single black wing protruded from his shoulder. A large bladed sword was strapped to his back. She stared at him, her mouth gaping open, for that single moment she couldn't speak. _Oh, my god he is so gorgeous! Arrgh speak dammit! I can't make him think I'm an idiot…although it's kinda late for that…_

He looked at her concernedly, "can you not speak? Are you mute?" She tried to shake off her nervousness "no I can speak…I was just surprised is all…" she said, her brown eyes staring deep into his blue ones. He shrugged as he looked at her, "so why are you not with your friends?" She stood up, her head only coming up to his shoulder, "my friend Sora doesn't want me around…" she replied.

She looked at the floor as she spoke, not noticing him until he began moving towards her and wrapping his arms around her, holding her in a close embrace. "Who wouldn't want to be around you?" he whispered into her ear, brushing his cheek against her hair as he spoke. She could feel her face reddening and even though she had the urge to move away, she resisted it. Being held by the guy made her feel better; it helped melt away all her sadness and sorrow.

Ring ring! Ring ring! Nicoru felt his arms pull away from her as he reached into his pocket all pulled out his cell phone. "Hello? Oh yeah…oh okay. I'll be there…bye." He sighed as he turned it off and put it away, "I have to go, I'll see you later…" he said as he began walking away. "Wait!" Nicoru said as she grabbed his arm, "what's your name?" He looked at her calmly and replied "Cloud." She repeated to herself "Cloud…" when he said "maybe you should tell me your name." She laughed as she realized, "my name is Nicoru," she said with a smile. Cloud nodded and walked off, passing Sora, Donald and Goofy.

Sora crossed his arms and glared at her "what about Riku? I thought it was him you loved." She looked at him and yelled, "Like Riku would ever really love me anyway Sora!" He turned around and stormed off, not looking back once, leaving Nicoru to stand there all alone.

In a dark office stood three men, and another in a chair behind the desk. One man stood in front of the desk, with the other two standing beside him, one on each side. The man in front of the desk was none other than Tatsumi. The man sitting in the chair before him had scraggly blue hair and dark eyes, wearing a black suit, guarded by the men standing beside him, their faces were clouded by the shadows. Tatsumi was frantically trying to explain the situation going on about the tournament.

"What will we do boss?" he asked.

The man in the chair just waved his hand casually, "what else but continue with the competition. I don't care what happens to the rest, the only thing important to me is the other four." He motioned his hand toward a large television screen split into four, showing Sora, Nicoru, Donald and Goofy.

A noise was heard from one of the men standing beside the other in the seat.

"Is there something wrong, Cloud?' he asked.

Cloud spoke calmly, asking "the girl too? Why get rid of her? She couldn't possibly cause any harm to us…"

The other man on the other side of the chair spoke, sounding like he was about to laugh "don't tell me you actually have feelings for her? You are one of the biggest saps I've ever seen!"

"Shut the hell up already Sephiroth! What makes you think you can talk to me like that?" Cloud yelled.

"You want to make something of it?" he asked, the sound of a sword beginning to be pulled from it's sheath could be heard.

"Enough!" said the blue-haired man in a irritated tone. "You will destroy that girl Cloud, whether you like it or not. You have no choice; your life belongs to me for all eternity!" He pulled a remote control from the drawer in his desk, and pressed a small blue button. A sharp cry came from Cloud as he fell to the ground, squirming and writhing in pain, clutching at his chest in agony. "Stop! Stop!' he screamed. The blue-haired man laughed as he stood up and pressed another button on the remote.

"You see Cloud? You have to do whatever I tell you or else I will kill you. That chip I planted inside your body when you were only a mere child, can be activated with this remote, if I choose not to turn it off, you will die a slow and painful death…" with that, he walked out of the room, closely followed by Tatsumi, leaving Cloud still on the floor with Sephiroth watching him.

"Dammit. That stupid sonuvabitch…" panted Cloud exhaustedly.

Sephiroth came over to Cloud's quivering body and kneeled down beside him. He began stroking Cloud's cheek with his hand, nuzzling his hair with his face. Cloud pulled away, but not quick enough. Sephiroth grabbed him by a few blonde locks of his hair, whispering in his ear "it doesn't matter whether you love someone or not, I'll destroy anyone who gets in my way of being close to you."

Cloud finally managed to pull away from him. "Yeah right, you stupid bastard. I will never let you touch me ever again!"

Sephiroth closed his eyes and smiled. "Oh I know you enjoyed that time we shared together. I remember it like it was yesterday. Not to worry though…for it won't be our last time. Your sexy ass will be mine!" He said as he stoop up and walked out of the room,

Cloud sat there for a moment before he stood up. "you think you have me beaten. I'll do whatever it takes to get what I want. There is nothing that you can do to stop me. I'll kill you if I have to! I'll be free from your grasp, able to do whatever I want. There is nothing you can do to stop me! I won't be anyone's slave. I'll finally be free…

**Chapter 5: The Tournament**

Nicoru stood with the other girls, whom were preparing for the tournament. She just stood and watched as they got ready. She felt so miserable, Sora was even angrier with her now. _What business does Sora have getting into my love life anyways? I've done nothing wrong…_ Riku's face popped up in her mind, she shook her head and looked over at Sora on the other side of the room. He had his back turned to her, talking to Donald and Goofy. Goofy and Donald had noticed her, they started waving at her, Sora merely turned and glared at her._ If looks could kill…I'd be dead where I stand…_

_I can't believe her… she told me that she loved Riku…and now she has her eyes on that blonde guy from earlier?! Argh! I stepped aside just so that she can have Riku…now she doesn't even want him! I could've had him all to myself1 DAMMIT!_

Sora stood there fuming until an announcement from the intercom rang out:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please start lining up by the door for the tournament! You will each be given a number, the number you get is the number of the person you are fighting! Once you get your number step outside and go to your team's side of the arena! When you get out there…start fighting with everything you've got!"

Nicoru stood in line waiting for a number. "Good luck" came a voice from behind her. She turned her head around, her eyes were met by sky-blue eyes. Cloud gave her a small smile before he walked to the doorway of the arena. "You too…" she whispered softly._ I really hope I don't have to fight Cloud…or him…_she turned and looked in Sora's direction.

Sora sat there, his arms crossed waiting for a number. He sighed sadly to himself._ I really don't want to fight Nicoru…I might be mad at her, but she is still my friend…I really just want to get at that blonde guy she was talking to. He seems like a really strong opponent though…maybe I should be glad he's on my side this time._

Everyone stood outside of the platform, girls on the right side, guys on the left. The announcer stepped out into the sunlight and stepped onto the podium. He turned out to no one other than the blue-haired man himself, the one who owned the arena. "Welcome to this marvelous event! I expect to see nothing but the best from each of you. Good luck to everyone. May the best fighters win. Give it your all!" Cheers rose up from the guy's side.

Cloud sat there, men all around him cheering and yelling. "That bastard is so full of shit."

A silver haired man with pale blue eyes walked up behind him. He wore tight black leather pants, a leather trench coat, open wide, showing his firm chest, wearing matching long-legged black boots and pieces of armor on his shoulders. Sephiroth patted Cloud on the back "cheer up!"

"Get the hell away from me," Cloud muttered, brushing Sephiroth's hand off him.

Sephiroth's face grew cold and dark as he whispered into the blonde's ear, "I will destroy that girl…I will kill her with you having to watch…you will be mine Cloud! Once again you will spend some quality time with me in bed!"

Sephiroth walked away laughing, leaving Cloud to wander his thoughts as he stared at the young brown-haired girl on the other side of the arena. He shuddered as memories of him and Sephiroth together in bed danced through his mind…it was like a horrible dream, having came back to haunt him. _Never again. Today is the day I end this. Those bastards won't get in my way. I'll destroy that man and his stupid remote…I'll finally get rid of Sephiroth…I'll make him pay…both of them will pay…_

One by one, girl against guy went up. The scores were exceptionally even. The blue-haired man put the microphone up to his mouth and cried out:

"next up for the men's team is Cloud!"

Cloud began to stand up, what he heard next made his blood go cold…

"for the women's team…Nicoru!"

Nicoru couldn't even stand, feet were frozen to the ground._ Not Cloud…please not Cloud._ Her heart sank as she walked to the platform.

As Cloud stood beside the platform, he glared at his boss standing at the podium. _You bastard…you probably fixed this damn fight so I'd have to fight her._ He merely smirked at Cloud, _you knew this was coming Cloud…_

Sora rose from his seat in horror. He turned and looked at Nicoru; he watched as she rose from her seat, walking shakily down to the platform. She gave Sora one last look as she walked down. _Why does Nicoru have to fight him? I have a bad feeling about this…what if something happens?_ He stood there watching, keeping an eye out in case he had to run to the platform and stop the fight. _I won't let anything else happen to her…_

Nicoru stood across from Cloud, feeling her eyes begin to fill with tears. "Cloud…" she whispered. He looked at her sadly, holding his sword out in front of him, ready to strike her down. He looked at her miserable eyes, beautiful brown eyes that had once sparkled with happiness when she had smiled at him, now filled with sorrow and large pools of tears.

_I can't hit her…I don't want to kill her. All I wanted was for her to be happy… to see her smile. I wanted to just hold her to me and love her with all that I had…hoping she would love me in return. I don't just want sex…hell, after what that bastard Sephiroth did, I'm not sure if I'll want that again…I just want someone to love me. I'm tired of just being someone's sex toy that they think they can just throw away when they are done with it. She's different…she doesn't want me for sex…just someone she can have that she loves who loves her back…_

_I will not kill her…I can't kill her._

"Cloud?" came a voice.

He looked at Nicoru. She looked at him, tears slowly falling down her face, sad eyes and a small smile covered her face. He looked at her, then at Sephiroth, and finally at his boss. He shook his head. "I can't do this…" he murmed aloud. He dropped his sword, letting it fall with a loud clatter that echoed throughout the area.

The blue-haired man started chuckling softy to himself, "I warned you earlier Cloud. I told you not to disobey me. Now you shall die. The girl you loved will watch you die, and will follow you soon afterwards!" He pulled out the remote and pressed the blue button.

Nicoru watched in horror as Cloud fell to the ground, squirming and writhing like a worm as he screamed out in pain. Nicoru rushed to his side, holding him up in her arms. "Cloud! Cloud! What's wrong? What's happening?" She looked over his entire body, but nothing appeared to be physically wrong with him._ Unless it's something from the inside…_

Sora, along with the rest of the crowd, stared in horror as Cloud squirmed in pain on the ground. Sora looked at Nicoru, her face full of worry and fear as she stared at the young blonde man. He searched around and something caught his eye. A small remote was held in the blue-haired man's hand. His eyes widened as he realized_ that remote is what's doing that to him…_

Nicoru looked around, searching for an answer to save Cloud. Everyone around her stood dumbstruck as they watched on. _Some please help me,,, _ she thought as she cradled Cloud in her arms. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sora racing down the steps to the podium.

Sora jumped up onto the podium and knocked the remote out of the man's hand. It hit the ground with a clatter. The man reached out to pick it up but Sora leaped over his bent over form and crushed it with his foot.

Nicoru felt Cloud begin breathing normally. He had stopped screaming, only to be slightly shaking. He looked at her for a moment and smiled softly before losing consciousness. She looked at him, holding him tightly in her arms. _Rest now Cloud…I promise I won't let anyone do anything like that to you ever again…_

Sora looked up triumphantly from the smashed remote to his friend across the platform from him. A form caught his eye, he watched as a silver-haired man slowly walked up behind Nicoru, an unsheathed-sword in his hand. "Nicoru!" Nicoru turned suddenly to see Sephiroth behind her. She reacted just in time, blocking herself with the keyblade.

The blue-haired man stood up straight. He smiled as he watched the scene unravel before him._ You will still die…just because Cloud was too weak to kill you doesn't mean Sephiroth won't…_

She could barely keep him off of her, she couldn't push him away. Sora came from out of nowhere, with Donald and Goofy in tow, knocking Sephiroth back. Sora looked at her "you okay?" She looked at him and smiled as she nodded. She gently placed Cloud on the ground, as she stood up. She looked at Sora "don't die on me…" He laughed, "I should be saying that to you." They turned their faces away from each other, their eyes set on Sephiroth.

Sephiroth was being attacked by Donald and Goofy. He looked at them calmly and knocked them out of the way with one swing. "I don't have time for weaklings like you…" he murmured.

He looked at Cloud's motionless body lying on the floor. _You will be mine…one way or another…_

He rushed at Sora and knocked him out of the way. Nicoru was a sitting duck on her own. She looked at the man standing in front of her. She watched as he raised his blade, she shut her eyes, her feet were stuck to the floor_ even if I try to run he'll still keep coming…_

"Nicoru!"

Instead of feeling cold steel slice through delicate flesh, she heard the clashing of steel upon steel. She opened her eyes to see red cloth blocking her view. "Cloud?"

"No…not Cloud…"

Before her stood a man with long black hair and blood-red eyes. He wore a red cloak, boots with pointed toes and a glove shaping his left arm into a golden claw. He carried a gun in his right hand.

"Where is Cloud?" she asked.

The man turned his head and nodded in the other direction. From behind him she peeked her head out and watched as Cloud and Sephiroth fought. _Cloud's too weak to be fighting right now, if things keep going on like this…_

She started running towards the two men. She watched as Sephiroth pierced Cloud in his right shoulder with the sword. "You will come back to me Cloud, weak and beaten if it comes down to it!" Cloud sat on the ground helplessly, covering the wound, feeling his own blood trickle through his hand. He wrenched the sword from his arm, "I'll never let you have me again!" Sephiroth smirked as he raised his blade.

"Stop!" Nicoru screamed.

She placed herself in front of Cloud, her arms outstretched. "Nicoru, get out of the way!" Cloud yelled. "No, I won't let him kill you…" She walked closer to Sephiroth. "For whatever reason you seem to have a grudge against me…I don't wish to fight you. I'll make a deal with you instead…." Sephiroth looked at her, she stared back at him, her eyes full of determination. "I'm listening," he said calmly, putting his sword in its sheath.

Meanwhile, as this was all taking place and when things started to look bad for him, the blue-haired man began sneaking away. He had just about reached the exit when a voice said from behind "and where exactly might you be going?"

He turned his head around; dark eyes were met with red ones. He felt as a pistol was held against his back. "If you know what's good for you, you would turn back around and face your fate."

Sora watched as Nicoru stood in front of Cloud, speaking with Sephiroth. He was worried wondering why Sephiroth hadn't tried to pull anything yet._ I hope she knows what she is doing…_

"So if you get Cloud then what do I get in return?" Sephiroth asked.

Just then a yell was heard from the doorway. The man in the cloak was walking back, carrying something on his shoulder. "Hey it's Mr. Red!" Nicoru exclaimed. The man dropped his bundle on the ground, which turned out to be the blue-haired man. "My name is Vincent" he muttered.

A gasping blue-haired man sat up angrily, he was confronted by a pissed off Nicoru. She took out her keyblade and smacked him hard, causing him to squeal in pain.

"Just because you're their boss, doesn't make them your slaves…" Nicoru muttered.

"Bite me, you stupid little bitch…"

Nicoru was about to hit him again when she got an idea. She turned to Sephiroth "I'll give you him for Cloud. You can do anything you want with him."

Sephiroth looked at her, his eyes lit up and a mischievous smile formed on his face. "Anything?"

She smiled and nodded. He put his hand out she took it and shook it. A loud cheer arose from the audience. She looked at Sephiroth, "so what do you plan on doing with him?" she asked curiously.

Sephiroth just looked at the man and smiled "it's a surprise…"

The blue-haired man looked at him, his eyes full of fear, a loud gulping noise coming from his throat.

Later that evening…

After everything that had happened, the blue-haired man was striped of his rights and his job was given to Tatsumi. Tatsumi declared that the battle arena be open to everyone.

Nicoru sat on the steps of the entrance. Everyone was inside celebrating. While everyone, including Sora, was inside getting wasted, she had decided to wait until the party had calmed down a bit. She watched as a drunken Sephiroth walked past her dragging along his screaming ex-boss. She had also noticed Tifa and Tatsumi in the corner of the room having a lip-smacking session before she had gone outside.

"I don't think I really needed to hang around to see that…" she murmured, as she watched the sun setting across the horizon.

She sat staring off into space; until she felt strong, muscular arms wrap themselves around her. "You seem like you can use some company," whispered Cloud. She smiled at him and patted the spot beside her.

"I wanted to thank you Nicoru…" he began.

"For what?" she asked. Her head tilted slightly to the side, a puzzled look formed on her face.

"You made me feel really happy. I haven't felt that way for such a long time. You made me feel like I was really needed. For once, someone actually wanted me around…"

"Sephiroth wanted you around…" she replied with a laugh.

"That's not what I mean. He only wanted me around for sex; you want me around because you just seem to like having me around. You never really tried forcing yourself on me. You actually seemed to care for me…you don't treat me like dirt," he said. His eyes stared into hers. Blue eyes looked into brown.

"Cloud…" she said softly.

He held her hands "I love you Nicoru…I want it to be like this all the time. I want to stay with you…"

She pulled away, "I can't Cloud…"

"Why?" he asked. His expression grew sadder by the minute.

"I have to leave and go on a long journey with Sora…I promised him that we would do it together... we said we would find our friends together…" she said, her hands in her lap.

He gave her a knowing look. "You like someone else don't you?"

She sighed before she began speaking, "I…I do but I don't think he feels the same about me…wait, how did you know?" she looked at him questioningly.

He laughed, "I heard you and your friend yelling at each other earlier."

She frowned and turned away. He put his arms around her again. "It's fine if you love someone else. But if you ever need me…I'll always be there for you…"

He pulled his arms away from her and pulled out a small palm computer. "Here take this…let me know if you ever need me. At least you can have someone to talk to…"

Her eyes watered as she looked up at him. "Thank you…Cloud…"

After the party, there was a firework show. Most people didn't show up because they were either throwing up in the bathroom, or just lying on the floor inside groaning in agony. Sephiroth and their ex-boss were in bed together that night. Sephiroth felt that there were much more important matters besides fireworks. Nicoru glanced at Sora behind her, his cheeks red, he was running around dancing, singing and…hallucinating. He tried to sit on Goofy thinking he was a couch, and tried using Donald as a pillow.

She sat beside Cloud, his arm on her shoulder; they watched the fireworks together until the very last one had faded away into the night sky.

The next morning…

Nicoru, full of sadness, sat at a table alone in the dining hall as she ate her Cheerios. _This is the last time I'll see Cloud for a long time…_she thought as she munched away.

"Nicoru!" a female voice called.

She turned to see Tifa walking up to her. "Your friends need you," she said with a laugh.

"They all have hangovers don't they?" she asked irritatedly.

Tifa just laughed as she nodded. Nicoru sighed, "This is why I really don't drink alcohol…"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all lay in the lobby groaning in pain. Nicoru walked over, "I can't believe you slobs," she muttered. She sighed _well…at least Cloud didn't see this…_

"Nicoru…what happened to your friends?' came a voice from behind her. She turned to see Cloud standing behind her. "Alcohol is what happened…" she said, she nudged Sora's side with her foot. "Sora come on, we have to get ready to leave soon." Cloud looked at her in surprise, "what already?" She merely nodded. With a laugh he said "you must really want to get away from me huh?"

She looked at him, her eyes filling with tears; she thrust herself at him, embracing him in a hug. "You're crazy if you think I don't want to be around you."

Sora shakily stood up. "Why is it so bright? My head hurts like hell…" he whined. "This is the last time you guys will ever be allowed to drink alcohol!" Nicoru yelled. Cloud just stood there a smirk on his face.

Later that day…

Sora and Nicoru were getting ready to depart. Tifa and Tatsumi were seeing them off, along with a group of people. Cloud was nowhere to be seen. They waved as they began walking inside the door to the ship, promising to come back again for a visit.

Sephiroth looked at them and smiled, "next time you come we should finish that fight of ours…" Nicoru and Sora nodded, "we'll kick your ass too!" said Sora. Sephiroth laughed "I'd like to see you try.

Nicoru looked at Vincent and smiled "thank you so much for yesterday…" He glanced at her and nodded, "Cloud would have been pissed if I had just let Sephiroth kill you…but your welcome." She looked at his grouchy face and laughed, "It wouldn't kill you to smile once in a while." Vincent stared at her, his eyebrow raised. "Smiling isn't my thing…" he muttered.

Nicoru looked around for Cloud once more. The spiky blonde-haired boy was nowhere to be found. _I could see why he doesn't want to see me off…I wish he would have came and said good bye anyways…_ she turned away and started walking inside the ship.

"Wait!" came a voice.

Nicoru turned to see a figure running up, a red cape billowing out behind him as he ran up. Spiky blonde hair shined in the sunlight. Cloud gave a stern look, "you were actually going to leave without saying goodbye?" She jumped from the ship and into his arms, "not my fault you're so slow."

He leaned over and kissed her, his lips touching hers. Her eyes grew wide at the feel of his lips against hers. He pulled away and smiled. Nicoru was about to protest, she wanted some more. Cloud looked at her, "you should probably get going." She hugged him again. "Bye Cloud." He tightened his grip, "we'll see each other again soon…I promise."

He watched her as she stepped inside the ship, her eyes filling with tears as she sat down. She held the palm computer in her hand, along with a bundle he had given her that morning. She watched as he got smaller and smaller as their ship flew farther away.

Cloud stayed there, watching until the ship flew out of sight. "Good bye…for now."

**End of Part 2**


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